NHL

Betting on NHL hockey can be a good option if you know about the sport and how to bet on NHL, if only because the bookmakers don’t pay as much attention to this sport as to the “majors.” This lack of bookmaker attention, when coupled with wise picks, can yield profitable results for the NHL bettor.

In addition to the relative lack of action on NHL betting, there are a few other basics that every NHL bettor needs to keep in mind, for example:

Betting NHL Quite Similar to Betting On MLB

The NHL is not exactly the “American Past Time.”

Nevertheless, betting on the NHL is quite similar to betting on Major League Baseball. The most common bet in either sport is a “money line” bet, meaning you are betting on one team to win over the other. Odds will be priced accordingly.

Nevertheless, betting on the NHL is quite similar to betting on Major League Baseball. The most common bet in either sport is a “money line” bet, meaning you are betting on one team to win over the other. Odds will be priced accordingly.

If you want to learn how to bet on hockey, you will need to know that there is also a “puck line” bet which includes a point spread element, usually +/-1.5 goals. The puck line bet is then “priced” according to how heavily-favored the favorite really is. Just like with MLB betting, any spread above +/-1.5 indicates a very heavy favorite. The other factor in this puck line bet is the payout percentage attached to the bet, which can be + or – as well.

So for example, a game between the Canucks and the Bruins might be Bruins -140 on the money line, meaning you have to lay $140 on Bruins to win $100, and Bruins -1.5 (-110), meaning that you have to lay $110 on the Bruins to win $100 and the Bruins have to win by at least two goals.

By far the most popular bet in the NHL is the money line bet, on one team to win straight up versus the other.

Goalies Are the Pitchers of the NHL

One common strategy for betting the NHL is to choose the team with the best goalie. Hockey goalies, like MLB pitchers, affect the score of the game more than any other player (usually).

In the NHL, though, the smart bet is often to bet against the slumping goalie, as much as it is to bet on the superior one. Slumping goalies can be a gold mine for NHL bettors.

Because of the importance of goalie play, many NHL bettors, like many MLB bettors, choose to play the over/under game. That is, rather than betting on one team, the NHL bettor will bet on the number of goals to be scored in the game.

Some would say that betting the over/under in hockey is about as much fun as watching paint dry, but we would say that if you are making money, that is plenty of fun.

Betting NHL Small Market Underdogs

One of the main differences between betting NHL games and betting the “majors,” as noted above, is that the NHL gets relatively thin action, unless the league is deep into its playoffs. Far fewer people watch hockey and that means that far fewer people bet on hockey.

As an NHL bettor, thin action is your best friend. This can be especially true when a popular, big market team such as New York or Toronto is heavily-favored over a small market team from a town that doesn’t much care about hockey, such as Tampa Bay with the Lightning.

For games like these, there may be very little betting on the small market team, which can drive up the money line bets to +200 or even +300. It’s rare to get solid 2-1 or 3-1 odds like that and many savvy NHL bettors are more than happy to take advantage of the mainstream public’s relative lack of interest in this hard-hitting sport.

A final note about betting the NHL would be to always watch out for young talent. The NHL of today is constantly seeing young players emerge and turn into superstars “overnight.” And yet even the brightest NHL stars are not household names in the vast majority of betting households.

The NHL bettors who see those superstars coming up before the rest of the public does are often able to reap nice profits before the mainstream public even knows that yes, yes in fact they do play hockey in Tampa Bay.